20Aug 2019 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

In Simple Terms: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

Nature, Physics
[caption id="attachment_26306" align="alignright" width="480"] L to R: Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli[/caption]Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) was yet another bright German physicist. He was a "founder" of quantum mechanics, the physics of the subatomic. As with astrophysics, behavior at this level appears to vary from the physics of the everyday world. A Brief Description The velocity of an auto of mass m can be measured accurately. If its velocity remains constant, its location over time is predictable. This is the norm according to ordinary human experience. Yet, at submicroscopic levels, physicists experienced something different. For certain measurements, various pairs of variables could not both be accurately known simultaneously. Simultaneous measurement is only precise to a point. These pairs of variables are termed conjugate variables. The Standard Example The simplest example is…
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11Mar 2016 by Vincent Summers No Comments

QSO Instructional Videos

Mathematics, Physics
[caption id="attachment_13734" align="alignright" width="340"] Blue = the parabola Black = the Lemniscate of Gerono Violet = the circle Red = QSO (1:1)[/caption] QSO Instructional Videos. Robert G. Chester, guest author at QuirkyScience.com surpassed expectation in his article on quasi-spherical orbits. A mathematics piece that should see application in many areas of physics as well, there is a distinctive flavor of art as well. To aid the reader of his article Quasi-Spherical Orbits – The Most Interesting Curves You’ve Never Heard Of, Robert has provided visual aids in the form of videos that may be seen on YouTube. In fact, they may even be downloaded if the visitor chooses to employ a download application for the purpose. Why are such videos of great value in understanding QSOs? Because most of us…
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17May 2015 by Vincent Summers 1 Comment

Massless Strings and Frictionless Pulleys

Physics
Massless strings and frictionless pulleys? Whoever heard of such things? I attended Drexel University. Well, at first it was the Drexel Institute of Technology. I majored in chemistry. It was strongly suggested I major in chemical engineering. But I refused to change. Why? Because I didn't care what use humans put chemistry to. I loved chemistry and that was all there was to it. Unfortunately (or so it seemed at the time) majoring in chemistry didn't mean all my courses would be chemistry courses. Physics - Massless Strings & Frictionless Pulleys Well—unavoidably—I was required to take a certain amount of physics. And introductory physics requires the use of simple mathematics, including calculus. But physics equations can be difficult to derive. Simplification wherever possible was the mandate. This simplification required us…
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